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Thursday, 2 April 2015

‘SWAZI KING TO BUY $44m PRIVATE JET’

King Mswati III of Swaziland is reportedly looking
to buy a private A340 jet costing at least US$44 million.

If he does, the cost would be nearly three times the
amount the Swazi Government spent last year on elderly grants (pensions), in
the kingdom where King Mswati rules as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute
monarch.

It is also considerably more than the US$27 million the
Swaziland Government received in external grants from intuitions such as the
European Union.

News of the intended purchase circulated on the
Internet following a reports in Swaziland newspapers
that Swazi members of parliament were concerned that the King’s present DC-9 jet,
which is impounded in Canada as part of a business
dispute over unpaid debts, might be tampered with. They wanted the King to
sell his present plane and buy a replacement.

The Swazi
Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported Kwaluseni
MP Mkhosi Dlamini saying ‘safety issues must be highly considered on return of
the aircraft because the person behind its attachment would still be bitter
over its release’.

Following the report, a source close to the aviation industry told an
Internet website the debate in parliament was a ‘smokescreen’ to disguise the fact
that the King was already intending to buy a bigger Airbus A340 jet.

No information about the projected cost of the plane
has yet been revealed, but a quick search on the Internet suggests a starting
price might be about US$44 million. The cost could be considerably larger
depending upon the age of the plane and the amount of refurbishments that would
be needed to the aircraft’s interior to satisfy the King’s well-known tastes
for luxury.

In Swaziland seven in ten of the 1.2 million
population live in abject poverty on incomes less than US$2 per day.

In the national budget announced in February 2015,
it was revealed
that E156 million (US$15.6 million) had been spent on grants (pensions) for the
elderly in 2014 – 2015. In Swaziland, the grant is the only income for many elderly
people.

The grant was increased by E20 (US$2) per month to E240. The
Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said in February 2015 that this was sufficient.
E20 can buy two loaves of bread.